


you're my number 13

by fineosaur, thelandofnothing



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Light Angst, Reluctant Lab Partners To Lovers, arya is chaotic, but more, gendry breaks a lot of glassware, gendry is very grumpy, lots of lab equipment innuendos fair warning, the hound is a professor for some reason, title from number 13 - nothing but thieves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 19:36:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20711411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fineosaur/pseuds/fineosaur, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelandofnothing/pseuds/thelandofnothing
Summary: Reluctantly paired for a lab assignment, Arya and Gendry try to work around the unfettered tension between them.





	you're my number 13

**Author's Note:**

> based on an Ao3 tag found on tumblr  
Sweet Talk - Saint Motel

** **

**Arya**

Five times now, he had pushed his hair out of his eyes _ five times _ . It was almost as if he’d found it fun to constantly toy with his hair. It wasn’t fun, it was infuriating to see him switch from running his hands through his hair and stroking his peppered jaw pensively. He refused to talk, instead his eyes skimmed the outline they’d both been handed. Arya watched as his thumb traced his bottom lip in thought. One of them needed to talk about how they’d sort out working together. _ Gendry Waters _ did not seem to be the one who was likely to do the talking though.

“Let’s quickly get this over with then,” Arya’s tone was aggressive and her sentence abrupt. Gendry’s head snapped in the direction of her voice. She watched his hand rub his neck and grimace in pain over the sudden movement. “I’m not happy that I’m stuck with you of all people but I need to pass this. Alright?” 

His face easily displayed his confusion at her words. “You don’t even know me,” he stated with a gruff voice, his dark eyebrows furrowed in irritation.

“I know enough,” she assured. Arya glanced down at her own copy of the outline to _ ‘Ascorbic Acid Redox Titration’ _, giving it a quick look before her eyes darted back at him. His azure eyes fixed on her movements as he sat by her silently. “Let’s go through this quickly then.”

After reaching the fifth note on the outline_ ‘5. When titrating, DO NOT BREAK THE GLASSWARE OR I WILL BREAK YOU’, _ They were interrupted by the professor’s gravelly voice. 

“If you all would shut the fuck up, I’m going to go over this shit,” Professor Clegane projected loudly. His hands were empty, full use put to gesticulate along with his words, only occasionally patting down his hair on the scarred side of his face. “You and your partner’s aim will be to _ Determine the Ascorbic Acid Content of Vitamin C Tablets _. And as noted down here, I will not have any of you lot coming to me, telling me you don’t like the cunt you have been assigned to work with. I don’t care if he killed your brother, you work with him.”

Despite being stuck with Gendry, Arya couldn’t help but find Clegane’s words amusing. As he droned on, she found herself watching the ebony haired man sitting by her. 

“You will be provided with five types of vitamin C tablets, don’t bloody lose them, the uni budget is fuckin tight, your job is to determine how much ascorbic acid, vitamin C, are in these tablets via a redox titration using 0.05M iodine solution and starch indicator,” Clegane’s voice sounded distant to her. Gendry’s focus was clearly on the professor, his eyes followed the tall man’s pacing figure. Her eyes were wandering on him though, soaking in the tight sleeve of his grey t-shirt that stretched across his upper arm as he leaned against the workbench. His taciturnity both incensed her and enthralled her. There was something enigmatic about the older man in a practical chemistry lecture of freshers. The way his face was always turned into an eternally sullen expression, or that his arms were always folded over his chest. 

_ “W _ _ hen iodine reacts with starch, it will form a blue-black, starch-iodine complex - that is your endpoint, don’t fuck it up.” _

Gendry glanced at her, giving her a bemused expression as she continued to stare back at him. She glowered at him as his attention went back to Clegane, running his fingers through his hair once more. Arya doubted they’d manage to get along during this 4 month long project. The least she could do was push through it and try to get the most work done. 

Tearing her gaze from his sable locks, Arya looked back to the front of the class, watching as Professor Clegane pointed at the class to say yet another bit of information about the titration. 

“I’ve written the outline in comic sans, because I hate you all. Don’t, and I repeat _ don’t _ ask me questions during this period at any point in time. If you have any questions feel free to go fuck yourselves, or use google because I will be drunk,” he said gesturing vaguely at a bunch of students. “Class dismissed.”

Thankful to be over with the tiresome lecture, along with the added concern that was most likely an incompetant partner. Hurriedly, Arya collected her things off the marble workbench of the lab. She glanced at Gendry who was slowly stuffing his own things into a bag.

“Uhh, call me and we’ll arrange our schedules to include one another,” she told him as swung her bag over her left shoulder and sifted past other students. Determined to get back to her dorm in time to meet her brother. Continuing to squeeze past people, Arya pulled out her earbuds, plugging them into her phone as she cranked up the volume.

Unexpectedly, she felt herself being tugged backwards, the motion sending her off balance. Steadying herself against the hallway wall, Arya looked up angrily at her aggressor. She looked up at the tall, dark haired man who rubbed his neck and looked to be mumbling something. “What the fuck, Waters?” she asked, pulling her earphones out. 

“I’ve been callin’ out to you, I had to run to catch up, Gods know how you’re able to get around so fast when your legs ain’t even that long,” he explained, still rubbing his neck as he looked down at her.

“And?”

“And? How am I meant to call you when you haven’t given me your number?”

“Give me your phone, "Gendry opened up his contact listings, allowing her to type in her number. “Here you go, do you need anything else or are we done here?” Arya asked passing his phone back to him, in a swift motion that almost looked like she was near to dropping the thing.

“You’re delightful aren’t you, Stark?” he japed, giving her a feigned smile.

“You have no idea,” she answered back, her eyes wide as she grinned back, feeling the anger in her chest simmer. Hoping to mess with him further, she tugged the collar of his t-shirt up, as if it were out of place. Her fingers intentionally grazing his throat, watching as his adam’s apple bobbed. “I’m done seeing your face now.” She bit, her expression falling to reveal the irritation behind the grinning façade. Gendry’s eyebrows rose at her words. He stood rooted as she walked away. 

Arya was glad that she’d left with the last word, it meant she _ might _ just get her way with this project and he _ might _ just listen. A lot of faith rested in that _ ‘might’ _, if anything Arya didn’t trust that either.

-

There were a lot of light pinks and blues. Soft, small clothing that definitely didn’t look big enough to fit a real human, were babies really so small? By instinct, she felt drawn to the blue bonnets but Jon’s gaze lingered on the pink ones. Arya watched Jon gently pick up tiny booties, examining the size of them in confusion. 

“We could take both colours, seeing as Robb and Jeyne are determined on the baby’s gender being a surprise,” Arya supplied, watching as Jon lifted his head and stared back at her.

“Isn’t it dangerous… having something so small?” Jon asked, still wondering about the size of the baby shoes. 

“I thought the same thing, but Jeyne will probably know what to do whilst Robb cries in the background,” she assured him, grabbing the tiny pink bootie out of his hand and putting it back on the shelf. “What if we just choose stuffed toys as gifts? Rather than clothes? I can’t seem to understand the sizing.”

Jon followed her to the other side of the shop, pocketing his hands and looking daunted by the sheer amount of toys on display. 

“How’re your classes going?” Jon asked, lifting a hand to pick one of the toys off the shelf.

“Could be better,” she shrugged, waving off the toy he showed her.

“Something wrong?” He continued questioning, following her as they walked further into the shop.

“We got assigned this big lab report-“ she started, turning to watch his expression, “we’re meant to do it in pairs.”

“And you don’t like your partner?” Jon guessed, taking another toy off a top shelf and showing her.

“He looks thick,” she stated, shaking her head at his suggestion. “He never talks, I’m almost certain I’ll end up doing most of the work or cleaning up his mess.”

“He, is it?” Jon japed, chuckling lightly when she glared at him.

“Yes, he. And _ he _ is most likely a dumbarse.”

“How much is the assignment worth?”

“40% of our grade.”

“Damn, good luck… wolf!” His tone went from sombre to gleeful in a matter of seconds after picking up a wolf toy from one of the baskets near the two of them.

“Hey, that one’s actually not that bad!” She said, finally agreeing with his choice.

-

_ Gendry Waters _ hadn’t called her yet. Stretched out on her bed after a long weekend of endless tasks, Arya had thought he’d call. Part of her felt vindicated, knowing she was right all along about his work ethic being sloppy. Another more haunting part of her cursed herself for being moronic enough to leave the onus in his hands. _ She should have taken his number and called him, _ that voice told her. What did she think, trusting someone else with something this important? Her mind had been focused on meeting Jon, on attending Jeyne’s baby shower, on spending time with her family. Of course, she’d pushed the blue-eyed bastard as far from her mind as possible. 

Arya lifted her head and threw it back onto the bed, hoping the sudden jolt would ease the headache she could feel creeping its way up her temples. 

Irrationality tried taking over, telling her to try look _ ‘Gendry Waters’ _ up on social media in hopes to track the irresponsible arse down. She didn’t want that though. They were lab partners, she was not about to see whether or not he had an aesthetic instagram account or perhaps had a facebook account he never used. _ He’d call, _ the tiniest shred of positivity in her attempt to be heard. If not, she’d meet him in class this week anyway. One week wouldn’t set them back too far, would it?

* * *

**Gendry**

He didn’t want to text her, he almost considered walking to the staff building to hand in his subject drop-out form to get the _fuck _out of Clegane’s class. 

But weirdly, Gendry began to only understand enthalpy equations when they were yelled directly into his face and as much as his project partner was a rightful pain in his arse, there was something his mother had always told him: "_n__ot everyone’s a cunt", _ and it almost sounded like something Clegane would say. He could tell Arya Stark was a ball of anger; brimming to her boots with unresolved angst. There was something comforting about basking in their mutual reclusivity; Arya didn’t seem to have many friends nor did she bother to make some in their class. He did have eyes, Arya was _ pretty _ to say the least and he liked the way her dark hair fell around her face and framed a set of eyes that swirled like storms. He was 100% sure that Arya did not particularly like him, not like he actually cared but he knew it was going to be a _ bloody _nightmare trying to finish the lab assignment without throwing himself off a cliff. So he decided to text her, for there must have been worse things in the world than actually instigating the project that was worth 40% of their final grade. Gendry needed this Intro to Practical Chemistry class to even be considered for his Engineering programme that he was applying for. Looking after his mother for the first years after high school when he should have been going to the University of Storm’s End had set him back. Gendry knew hard work, he knew pain as well but he had learnt not to turn his cynicism at the world into a personality trait. He had heard a lot of others who went through similar or even worse shit; his friend Hot Pie’s mother didn’t even care enough to stick around for the first five years of his life. 

He broke out his melancholy and stared at his phone; it had a chunky, protective case so it didn’t break in the garage whilst he was working and some people made faces at it. Now that he remembered, Arya hadn’t even given it a second glance; most likely from lack of care but he had an inkling that she might have been less judgemental than she assumed to be. 

_ Gendry: hey this is that guy in Clegane’s class you don’t like, let me know when you’re free so we can organise a time to go through the method _

He didn't bother over analysing his text when Arya didn’t respond immediately; in his head he envisioned her attempting in a lowly basement to take down the patriarchy or plot the intricate murder of the President of Westeros’ son who was a slimy bag of sexism and toxic masculinity. It made sense but there was also a huge chance that she was busy. 

_ Arya: i can do weekends _

_ Gendry: when? some people work y’know _

_ Arya: yeah, i happen to be one of those people thus why i can only do weekends. _

_ Gendry: my bad. _

Gendry didn’t truly feel sorry but he did feel guilty. He knew the Stark name; it was established and symbolised more than what he could have imagined earning in his entire life. But the Starks were known for their charitable characteristics and he, like most people in Westeros had heard about Ned Stark’s tragic death. He knew what it was like to lose a parent and maybe, just maybe they could find a middle ground through mutual parental tragedy. 

_ Arya: nice one asshole _

On second thoughts… 

_ Arya: im assuming you’re offended _

_ Are you free now, im on campus and there’s a good coffee spot that doesn’t get too busy _

Gendry stared at the clock in the library and sighed. He wasn’t getting any work done anyway and although he attempted to commit himself to at least three hours in the same spot, he just couldn’t seem to focus. 

_ Gendry: depends, how good are their ice coffees _

_ Arya: … _

_ … _

_ Fucking legendary _

_ Gendry: done deal, what’s it called? _

_ Arya: Acorn Hall _

_ Gendry: i know the one, i’ll be there in 10 _

He began to pack his stuff up more quickly than he could fathom, trying not to disturb those around him as he zipped his backpack up and swung it onto his back. He had heard of “Acorn Hall” before, of course he had, it was _ his _spot. The coffee shop was situated at the back of the campus, built out of what used to be a medieval Great Hall of some noble lady’s keep. The owner was apparently a descendent of the ancient family, much like Arya must have been to the ancient Starks. 

He headed across the campus, autumn air prickling the hair on his arms. He liked the Riverlands, he liked how the air was different to the smog-laden atmosphere of King’s Landing. He liked the chill, he loved the trees.

When he walked in, Arya had a pair of massive headphones on while she typed productively on her laptop. He walked up to her and waved a hand for attention and he waited until she looked up to him and glared. 

_ Gods, she really does hate me, doesn’t she. _

“Could you have taken any longer?” she asked him as he sat down and he scoffed in return. 

“Yeah, because that makes sense… Me having a life and all and being beckoned by my pesky lab partner even when I gave her an estimated time of arrival,” he shot back and unlocked his phone, “I got here in seven minutes, so you’re just saying that in spite.” 

She shrugged her shoulders and leaned down to grab a wad of paper. 

“Nothing to say about that Stark?” 

“Nope,” she responded, meeting his eyes with a defiance he had never witnessed before, “I can confidently say that I think you’re stupid.” 

_ Fucking shit, fuck her. She’s a pain in my arse. _

“You shouldn’t insult people who’re bigger than you,” he said in a low voice. 

Arya just cocked her right brow and looked him directly in the eye. 

“Then I wouldn’t be able to insult anyone,” 

“Fair enough,” he shook his shoulders to mirror her indifference, “It makes sense with you being a miniature.” 

“Shut up,” 

“Is that an order _ m’lady? _” 

“Do. Not. Call. Me. That,” she leaned forward and punctuated each syllable with intentional malice. 

He leaned back in his chair and let out a smirk. 

“As m’lady commands,” he said quickly and he felt her boot connect with his shin. 

“Fucking shit, why in the Seven Hells would you do that?!” 

“I warned you,” she gave him a pointed look and he scoffed as he saw her get up. 

“Get started on the outline, and try to find a coherent set of instructions for this practical. I can’t afford to fail,” she told him, pulling out her wallet. 

He watched her go to the counter and order. Suddenly, as if on their own accord, he felt his eyes wandering and they settled on her ass. She obviously worked out because her legs were toned and strong but the jeans she was wearing were doing his head in. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and he clenched his teeth. 

_ This girl is going to be the death of me. _

When she returned, he quickly averted his eyes, clicking his pen in distraction. 

“You do anything or were you daydreaming?” she asked rudely. 

“There’s a good method on this KLU website we can follow, I already emailed it to you,” 

“Well Waters, looks like you might be useful for one thing,” 

“Yeah, yeah. Just shut up, compliments don’t sound nice from your mouth,” he retorted, waving his hand in dismissal.

“I just want to say how cute you two look, Gods I don’t know how you study with your boyfriend but you two work really well together,” a barista said when she walked up them, setting not one but two iced coffees down on the table, “Let me know if you need anything more.” 

“We’re not dating!’ they both said at the same time, and looked at each other afterwards with shocked expressions. 

However, the doe eyed barista had already strolled away, humming obliviously to herself as her chestnut ringlets bounced with her steps.

“Can you believe the nerve of that woman?” he heard Arya hiss and he shook his head in disbelief. 

“Some people just make me sick,” he said to her and she nodded her head in agreement, “Like me? Date you? I would rather drive myself off a cliff.” 

Arya let out a deep bellied laugh, “Oh my Gods, you actually get it! Fuckin idiots, the lot of them.” 

“Exactly, who they think they are? Do they have eyes? We’re both obviously mortal enemies,” 

“Obviously,” she agreed and tapped her pen against the side of her mouth looking up at him. 

Seeing her eyes was a different thing altogether; they were grey and relentless, ripping into his soul like a fucking lazer. But they were sad, little colourless pools of misery and he could sense there was something behind the rough and tough exterior. A wall that she had built so high and fortified so well that there wasn’t a betting chance that someone could scale it. 

But Gendry was a stubborn bastard, and although he found her annoying, rude and entirely up herself, he was pretty damned determined to one day break those walls down. 

**Author's Note:**

> hope you all liked the intro to this fic! we have so many more plans for what's coming up. please leave any comments or questions!
> 
> \- fineosaur & thelandofnothing


End file.
